Night out with the White Owl

Jun 16, 2013, 08:01 IST
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Phorum Dalal

While White Owl, the recently opened brewery and bistro, awaits its brewery license, there's enough fizz in its menu to keep you going

It all begins in an old unused parking lot of One India Bulls Centre on a rainy Friday. Sport your meeting attire, or a casual tee with slip-ons, there is no dress code that can stop you from joining this underground party. A yellow-lit bar top, cast iron chairs and tables covered with red and white table cloth, white lamps, cycles and old switches as décor, and a menu that manages to wipe out the week’s worries, wait for your order.

The White Owl at One India Bulls Centre, Lower Parel

White Owl, the latest brewery and bistro by Javed Murad, who moves across the crowd with a pen tucked behind his right ear, is yet to get its brewery license, after which it will serve tap beers from 20 tanks -- lager, wheat, pilsner, stout, ciders -- brewed by a German master.

Envy, a drink wotj spiced rum, green apple bits, cinnamon stick

While we purse our dry lips, the bar menu does everything to distract our thirst with quirky concoctions, including drinks such as Biddy (whiskey, triple sec, fresh orange and egg yolk -- shaken) and Envy (spiced rum, green apple bits, cinnamon stick -- shaken). While their tequila shot, Ella, has a watermelon flavour (R425), their white and red Sangrias are worth a pitcher.

To give your liquid diet company, the food menu is exhaustive. We taste Jalepeno and Cheese Dumplings (R 295), served on a bed of garlic mayo and House Corn on the Corb (R285) with Salsa sauce, perfect for the monsoons. We best loved the Mediterranean Grilled Veggies (R245), which have an excellent charcoal tomato spicing. We recommend you try the house fries (R205) that come with three dips hot, cheese and mustard. For the mains, we tried the House Mac ‘N Cheese (R385), a well-cooked sinful treat better shared with someone than allow the guilt of a plate full of calories to score.

In the future, we picture ourselves frequenting the place on numerous Friday nights, letting our hair down on Saturday nights, or, sliding on to the high bar-chairs mid-week. See you there. We can’t rate the experience, as it was a preview white owl